mao-tipping and gay marriage

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

SO SICK.

despite arriving in beijing today, i got my fucking wish.

i saw cut chemist live.

can i just say....SOOOO SIIIIIICKKKKKK. so sick. that man cuts shit up like nobody's binness. i've never seen anyone play turntables like a fuckin instrument, like a piano or something. made my whole week when he spun what's the altitude.

not much to look at hmm?? yeah we waited like, two hours for his ass to show, but it was so worth it, son. so. worth. it.

something serious

thanks to everyone who asked after our well-being here in shanghai. the news recently has just been getting worse and worse, first with myanmar, and now with the sichuan earthquake. if you can contribute, here are some sites dealing with relief and aid.

AmeriCare

Direct Relief International

Red Cross China

so far these are the major NGOs that are responding to the earthquake. i expect in the next few days more will have links for contributions.

jane says that the red cross society of china has also formed a disaster relief working group, here's the relevant information:

An emergency relief hotline, along with bank account information to receive donations to assist their cause:

Account name: Red Cross Society of China
开户单位：中国红十字会总会

For those who want to donate in RMB: you can send money to the RMB account at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China branch below:
人民币开户行: 中国工商银行 北京分行东四南支行
人民币账号: 0200001009014413252

For those who want to donate in foreign currency, you can send money to the foreign currency account at the CITIC Bank branch below:
外币开户行：中信银行酒仙桥支行
外币账号: 7112111482600000209

Hotline: (8610) 65139999

-

from where i was in northeast shanghai, i didnt feel a thing, but folks in pudong apparently did, and everyone downtown was evacuated from the skyscrapers.

i seriously wish this stuff was not happening.

my cannonhead

so, following our weekend of mayhem - during which ali turned 24 amongst a million other dramatic events that took place - a plethora of awkwardly scandalous pictures surfaced on various parts of the web (facebook, picasa, blogs). this unleashed a fury of untagging and threats of blackmail unless certain photos were removed.

i'm as vain as the next person, meaning i partook in the furious untagging and demanding, but once in a while i come across a photo of myself that makes me go, "damn. i really need to do something with that."

case in point:



my initial reaction - as was everyone else's - was: "cotdamn." i mean seriously, what else can you say to a photo like that.

anyway, i remembered looking at this one artist li wei's work and being really amused by all these photos of himself plunged into the earth or his head floating around looking rather confused.






so it inspired me to do something dada with my own head.


namely, fire it out of a cannon.

i still cant look at it without cracking up.

for those of you who asked, i wish i could take credit for the background, but it's actually a corner of an artwork by this graphic design artist fatoe (fatoe.com), whose work rich introduced to me. his stuff is amay-sing!


in conclusion, saturday night was definitely one of those you wish you could forget but know you can't nights. which can only mean it's going to happen again this weekend. haolaaaaaaahhhhh!

happy bday cooch!

they were beautiful. they are beautiful.

nostalgia for all things old and beautiful.

本命年

i'm turning 24 at the end of the year, which means i'll have officially completed two cycles of the zodiac. it's the year of the rat, which means it's my 本命年. superstition dictates that your 本命年 will either be amazingly good, or amazingly terrible.

a few months ago i probably would have said it leaned like the motherfucking tower of 虎丘 towards terrible.

sitting on my couch at 6 in the fucking AM about to leave for taiwan, my conclusion insofar is that this year took its course the only way it could, and it has been insane. insanely great, yes. but mostly insane. and amazingly, a sort of drug-free insanity.

amazing and painful things have happened in the past couple months leading up to now, but i'm about to head home for grampa's funeral, so updates will have to wait. i passed up on this trip about a month ago and missed my sister cousin's wedding, but death's draw is stronger than a wedding's, and i can't imagine not saying good bye to him.

anyway, when i come back, prepare for a post complete with snarky comments in like manner.

♥

island stories.

//

We bring ’Jisan to the crematorium, after the ceremony. His body, wrapped in a white shroud, reminds me of a cocoon. At least he’s warm, I think for a second, then almost laugh out loud at the absurdity of the idea. Leilani hovers behind me, hugging herself, limpid brown eyes staring vacantly ahead. “Say goodbye, Lani,” I murmur. Then the kiln swallows ’Jisan and I see bright orange flames licking at his body, hungry for flesh. Soon there will be nothing left but charred bits of bone.

-

I float in and out of sleep listening. In my daze I think about Lani, ’Jisan, my mother, the butterflies, everything that is falling apart and disintegrating. In the end the island claims everything. If I stay, it would take me as well.

Every time I open my eyes it seems like the ceiling is a little lower. Soon it will press down against my face and suffocate me. I listen for his voice, move to touch him, to reassure myself that I’m still alive, in the guesthouse, but my limbs feel like lead, impossibly heavy. Then I hear him say, “Kanae?” and just like that mobility is restored to my arms. My hand reaches out for his, but I grasp nothing but air.

The ceiling swoops down and darkness swallows me.

//

不是不肯，只是舍不得。